CoL Teacher Inquiry: Fostering Oral Composition in Early Years: Talk for Writing with Pie Corbett

On a chilly Saturday, with the weather keeping us indoors, I found myself  watching  an enlightening presentation delivered by educator Pie Corbett. This engaging session, which formed part of the Sounds-Write Symposium, focused on the significance of developing oral narratives in young child. As the developer of the "Talk to Write" approach, Corbett highlighted the imperative nature of explicitly teaching oral language composition in conjunction with high-quality phonics instruction, recognizing their profound impact on literacy success. Drawing upon Scarborough's rope metaphor, he underscored the crucial role of seamlessly integrating both oral composition and decoding skills in fostering language proficiency.

Corbett's thought-provoking presentation shed light on the undeniable relationship between oral language development and effective phonics teaching and a child literacy success. He emphasized the importance of simultaneously cultivating oral composition skills and decoding abilities, recognizing them as inseparable strands in literacy development. As I dive deeper into the science of reading, specifically the relationship between vocabulary and encoding/decoding I was interested to see Corbett also making this connection. 

Corbett's explanation of the "talk for writing" approach for young learners (4 and 5 year olds) encompasses several key points that form the foundation of an effective classroom environment, fostering literacy skills.

• high expectations
• oral composition and comprehension
• strong phonic instruction for decoding and spelling
• handwriting

To effectively teach story language, according to Corbett, educators should begin with a rich story (this next paragraph will go into more detail about this). Rather than simply reading it aloud, the focus should be on orally presenting the text, allowing children to actively participate by repeating and making the language meaningful. By engaging in these interactive exercises, students internalise the linguistic structures and vocabulary required for constructing their own stories. The emphasis should be on helping students hear, say, and understand the language, fostering a solid foundation for their narrative development. The child will be exposed to the same story over many days. This holistic approach involves incorporating various strategies such as hearing, saying, understanding, drawing, engaging in rich experiences, and role-playing before transitioning to the writing stage. By encouraging imitation and guiding children to notice patterns in language, we enable them to develop their storytelling skills and encourage innovative thinking.

He also shared the concept of a "reading spine" comprising a selection of core books that are read to children, allowing them to immerse themselves in rich literary experiences. By exposing children to high-quality literature, their writing possibilities expand as they absorb elements such as settings, characters, and sentence structures. Corbett stressed that children have the right to be immersed in the finest literature available, setting the stage for their lifelong journey with language and literacy. This concept of the “reading spine” reminds me of the shared picture books that I have been using in my classroom as a part of the Better Start Literacy Approach.

Here are a few of the slides he shared that I have saved as reminders of what I might try out with my Year 1 class:

Picture cards and story structure cards are placed along a rope to retell a story.





Key words from a story are matched with images.








This screenshot above shows the key story language that is explicitly taught to children.







The children are composing their story using pictures along a line and practising their oral narrative.


Nga mihi nui!!